Reforms of Japanese Corporate Governance: Convergence in the Eye of the Beholder

Abstract

SUMMARY

Corporate governance may be analyzed from different perspectives, one of which is its legal aspect. Instead of examining legal norms that regulate corporate governance, this paper analyzes the relationship between non-legal norms and corporate governance, focusing on the influence that non-legal norms have on the way corporate governance functions in Japan. The objective of this paper is to examine the reasons for deviations from the American corporate governance that has been used as a model in the postwar period in Japan. In fact, this research belongs to the area of comparative law because it relates to the issues of legal transplants and world legal cultures. Japanese corporate governance is used mainly as a case study. The goal of the research is wider than simply analyzing Japanese corporate governance; it is hoped that the results of this research will be applicable to other segments of the Japanese legal system and be helpful in analyzing the role of both legal and non-legal norms in Japanese society. A further goal is to explore the need for giving more attention to law and society, and to an interdisciplinary approach to legal research. By exploring new research agendas, the research horizon can be expanded, and it is hoped that this paper may contribute to achieving that goal.